"Unlike PS3, we are not planning a major loss to be incurred with the launch of PS4."

- Masaru Kato, Sony Chief Financial Officer

Major video game console launches are often tied to financial losses due to major investment. But in an earnings call today, Sony said its upcoming PlayStation 4 launch will have a smaller negative impact when compared to PS3.

"At the time we developed PS3, we made a lot of in-house investments to develop the chip, the Cell chip," says Masaru Kato. "[For the PS4] we have a team working on chip development, but we already have existing technology to incorporate and also product investment, and all the facilities will now be invested by our partners, other foundries, so we don't have to make all the investment in-house."

As Gamasutra previously reported, Sony's game sales were down 12.2 percent in the last fiscal year, but its overall enterprise turned a profit of $435 million - in line with projections and despite having come off a record loss in the year prior.